Liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and other backlight devices, are currently used in a wide, and ever increasing, variety of commercial, residential, and military technologies and applications. As the need for smaller, more compact displays increases, so does the difficulty in providing such a display with acceptable performance characteristics, such as spatial, angular, and luminance uniformity.
Spatial uniformity requires uniformity in the luminous flux per unit area projected from the display over the surface area of the display. Angular uniformity requires the directional shape of luminous flux per steradian projected per unit area be uniform over the display surface area for viewing angles within a wide, two-dimensional viewing angle range. The spatial uniformity of projected flux, or light, is without regard to its angular uniformity characteristics, and the angular uniformity of projected flux is without regard to its spatial uniformity characteristics. Luminance uniformity encompasses both spatial and angular uniformity characteristics and requires that the light projected from different areas of the display surface be both spatially and angularly uniform within a wide viewing angle range.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a display system, or luminaire, with improved spatial, angular, and luminance uniformity. In addition, it is desirable to provide such a display system with a compact thickness. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.